Apple, and Music Labels slapped with Class Action Suit by “Dawg”

A small Bluegrass record label “Dawg Music” has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, several Major music labels, and a variety of other online music stores.Â MaCNN has the full story…here’s an excerpt of what Dawg and co. are complaining about…

The two large record companies agreed to online distribution of Grisman’s library without first acquiring permission from Dawg Music, according to AppleInsider, and by doing so both labels made unauthorized hard copies of the music while also usurping control of royalties due for each album. That lack of communication resulted in “gross underpayments,” claims Dawg Music, and online retail efforts such as the iTunes Store are guilty by association because they agreed to host and sell the unsanctioned tracks.

The suit claims that AOL Music Now, Buy.com, Apple’s iTunes, MSN.com, Napster, RealNetworks’ Rhapsody, Wal-Mart.com, and Yahoo Music are guilty of trading songs without genuine consent because they send money to the intermediate labels but not the copyright holders.

Dawg Music also states that this evasion of copyrights has caused “irreparable injury” to the music label, and that the agreements will continue to damage the company as long as the present contracts for online music remain. All defendants named in the suit would be forced to pay Dawg Music for damages if the small label manages to prove its case in a central California court hearing.

It’s amazing that a new lawsuit seems to come up everyday.Â At least once a week.Â Most of them we don’t ever hear about again, and this will probably be no different.Â We’ll just have to wait and see.